


The Last Enemy

by noahpocalypse



Category: Persona 3
Genre: Drama, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Romance, a bit of everything really
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-07-28 07:42:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20060461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noahpocalypse/pseuds/noahpocalypse
Summary: Both Arisatos survived the crash. Thanks to Hamuko's presence, Minato actually has feelings. They must balance high school shenanigans with fighting eldritch horrors at night using the power of friendship. NOT a novelization. Things will go off the rails before long.





	1. Chapter 1

Inside a train compartment, two siblings bickered.

"I'm telling you; dogs _can_ look up."  
"They _can't_, due to their musculoskeletal structure!"

The other passengers were divided in their responses. Some were amused, and some were annoyed. Both groups went unnoticed by the subjects of their attention.

"You're absurd. Since when did you become an expert on canine kinesiology?"  
"It's not kinesiology, it's just basic anatomy of the spinal cord- the anterior part of the cervical vertebrae are just too big! It's like a slinky, except the coils are thick and one side is thicker than the other so it bends all around but it bends less in that one direction!"

The bickerers appeared superficially unique from each other. One, a bored-looking boy with straight blue hair. His bangs partially covered one of his eyes. His visible eye was of a piercing shade of blue, and it held an intense expression as he debated with his companion on this matter of great import. The other had auburn, almost reddish hair pulled into a ponytail. Above her left ear, she had put thin barrettes in her hair into the shape of the Roman numeral XXII. Her eyes were a fierce shade of red, and her brow furrowed as she continued her verbal duel with him. Both had an MP3 player on a lanyard, and headphones resting around their necks. The two were blissfully unaware of the journey that I was placing before them. I knew that a good person would feel guilt for putting them on this path, but I am not a good person. I am not capable of feeling guilt. I only am capable of what needs to be done. The needs of the many must outweigh the needs of the few, else all will be destroyed. Again.

"Slinkies are definitely not an appropriate model for approximating the vertebral canal!"  
"You're not an appropriate model for approximating a functional human being, emo boy!"

The two ceased their prattle for a few seconds as they noticed a glowing cerulean butterfly gently flutter outside the train window. The girl wondered how it was keeping up with the speed of the train with so little apparent effort- perhaps, she thought, it was drafting, taking advantage of the lack of air resistance, like a car driving behind a big truck. The boy wondered what species it was- he had heard of phosphorescent butterflies, but they were extremely rare, and the only photos he had seen were of specimens that emitted a pale greenish light, not a bright, shining blue like this creature. Both marveled at the beauty of it, unaware that they were among a precious few to have been blessed with the sight of it, and unaware that their fates, their possible choices, just severely narrowed. Their path was growing smaller, with fewer splits, and they would soon reach the conclusion of their journey. They both stilled as words came unbidden into their minds. They soon recovered, and glanced at each other, then resumed their petty argument. The butterfly flew away, forgotten.

Time never waits. It delivers all equally to the same end.  
You two, who wish to safeguard the future, however limited it may be...  
You both will be given one year; go forth without falter, with your hearts as your guide.

* * *

The sky is orange and the setting sun shines through wispy clouds, illuminating her room in warm light, but she doesn't notice. She feels cold. She doesn't hear the noise outside, the cars honking and the birds singing. All she hears is the running faucet above her and her heart pounding in her ears.

The floor is cold under her feet, and the hard cabinet against her back hurts. She's sore from sitting there for too long. She's disheveled, her cardigan open and ribbon undone. Her hair falls forward into her face, and her eyes are forced shut.

It's not a real gun, she knows, it won't kill her. But as she presses the barrel against her forehead and tries to pull the trigger, she finds that she can't get a good grip with her sweaty palms, and her hands are shaking, and she's hyperventilating. She feels hollow, and memories that she'd buried resurfaced, and her chest squeezes and wrenches itself in different directions and she feels like she can't take any more before she is torn apart or irreparably broken deep inside. But now she's come so far, and if she gives up now, she might never get this close again. A surge of panic flows through her, and her eyes widen and she shrieks and drops the gun, slamming her head back and crying out from the pain, from the shame, from her own weakness.

Why did she come here? To find out the truth about her father, to find out why he left her all alone. Would he be proud of her? Would he happily claim her as his daughter?

He'd be repulsed by her.

Obviously, he would be horrified. He'd want her to throw the gun away and never look back, to walk away from this nightmare and stay safe. To lock the doors and hide under the covers at midnight, to pretend during the day that everything was okay. He would want her to just accept his death as a freak accident, and move on with her life. He'd say she was obsessing over his fate when she should be living her own life.

She picks up the gun again. It's light, and cool to the touch. It's silver and black, with the acronym S.E.E.S. printed on it. There is no barrel. No magazine. No chamber, and no safety. It's all fake. It's a placebo, just something meant to evoke stress. She certainly has plenty of that.

She pulls the gun up towards her head, fighting her instincts that are screaming at her. The cold tip of the gun pushes against her forehead, and she grits her teeth, but her finger won't move, and she feels like there's a hole in her lungs letting the air out as she breathes in, and her muscles are seizing even as she tries to force them to relax. She's nearly there, she's almost figured out the truth. After years of wandering hopelessly like a zombie, she's going to finally know the truth. She can do it. She has to. It's what has kept her alive thus far.

She shook all over as sweat dripped down her face, and with another cry she hurled the gun away and began to sob into her arms. The faucet ran. A car drove by, and birds sang sweetly to each other. She'll pick up the gun and try again another day, but she can't right now, she just needs to close her eyes and breathe, and try and forget the world spinning around her. She is filled with shame and anger, at the world, at herself, at Kirijo, at her father for leaving her. She can't continue like this, she can't. Something needs to change.

An hour later, she cleans herself up and heads to the station. The events of the evening firmly shoved behind her, she is giddy at the idea of finally seeing her friends after so long.

* * *

The train pulled into the Iwatodai station. _Finally, _Yukari thought. _It's running so late! We'll be pushing it to get back to the dorm before midnight._

Yukari Takeba had decided to pick up the new transfer students from the station and show them to the dorm. The train was scheduled to arrive at 10pm, which would leave plenty of time to make it to the dorm before the Dark Hour. Due to delays, however, the train was arriving at 11:30pm. The transfer students supposedly had the potential, so they might remain human at midnight, but even if they did, it'd be pretty inconvenient for her to deal with, not to mention potentially dangerous. Shadows outside of Tartarus were rare, but they were attracted to Persona users, and Yukari wasn't ready to fight yet. She wasn't sure that she ever would be.

It was about a half-hour walk to the dorm, so Yukari figured that if she got them to book it, they wouldn't have any issues. School started tomorrow, which would be a great excuse to make them hurry to get in bed early. She just desperately hoped there wouldn't be any more delays.

The doors opened, and Yukari waited for her two charges. Only a handful of people were getting off. Where were those two? She couldn't handle anything else going wrong, like a missed train. Then she heard a voice speak further down the platform.

"Come on Minato, move it! It's nearly midnight and I want to get some sleep before school tomorrow."

A girl with auburn, almost red, hair pulled back into a ponytail was tugging a blue-haired boy off of the train. Both wore the standard Gekkoukan High uniform: a knee-length skirt for her, trousers for him, and a dress shirt and blazer on both. Both had mp3 players around their necks, and they wore similar headphones. He was doing his best to walk leisurely, using her pull on him to counterbalance a casual-looking lean backwards. His face was stoic; hers was exasperated. "Fine!" she shouted, and let go. He swayed back dangerously before catching himself. He slightly widened his eyes when she let go, but after recovering, the corner of his mouth tilted up with satisfaction. She huffed.

_Oh my god, they're adorable. So that's what growing up with a sibling is like..._

Yukari shook her head and jogged forward. "Hey!" she called. "Hamu-chan, Mina-kun!"

The two turned to look at her. The boy's eyes widened, and the girl's face showed shock. "Oh my god!" the girl said. "Is that you, Yukari-chan?" Yukari grinned at their reactions. "Yeah! I was told to come pick you guys up and show you to the dorm! Long time no see Hamuko-chan, Minato-kun!" Hamuko grabbed Yukari in a hug, and Yukari waved at Minato with her free hand. He was smiling widely. "Yukari-chan, what are you doing here? I mean, obviously it's great to see you again, but when we decided to come back to town, we didn't think we'd run into you!"

Yukari reciprocated his grin without even thinking about it. She felt so genuinely happy to see them after so long. "I go to Gekkoukan, and, well, I happen to be in the same dorm you guys will be in!" Yukari responded while still squeezing Hamuko. "It's pretty amazing luck!"

He shook his head. "No kidding. I wonder who else we'll run into from way back then. I hope Ms. Akane won't be our teacher?"

Yukari laughed. "No, thank god. She doesn't teach at Gekkoukan." Hamuko finally released the hug and stepped back, looking her up and down. "You've grown! You're not six any more!" Yukari giggled. "Nope! I'm sixteen now."

"Look at that, Hamuko," Minato said. "She grew up, unlike you." "Hey!" Hamuko put her hands on her hips. "We're twins, so if you're saying that I'm still six, then so are you!" Minato shrugged. "I'm referring to your mental and emotional age." Hamuko grumbled before turning to Yukari and her expression brightened again. "We're really in the same dorm? I can't wait to catch up with you! How have you been? Where have you been? I'm sorry we never really got the chance to say goodbye, but, um, stuff happened and we didn't have much of a choice..."

Yukari shook her head, trying not to think about the tragedy. "It's fine, I had a lot on my plate too. I mean, yeah, it hurt, but I was dealing with stuff anyway, and- you know, just- no worries. It's not like we have much control over our lives at the age of six. I'm just glad to see you again. Speaking of, we should really get going. It's nearly midnight and we have school early tomorrow. Let's go get some sleep, then we can hang out tomorrow."

Yukari glanced at her watch. 11:35pm. They needed to hurry, or things would get even more awkward.

"Yeah, let's hurry," Hamuko agreed, "I prefer to be in bed before midnight." Minato nodded, and they followed Yukari. She set a fast pace, and Yukari thanked the stars that they were matching her speed. She pointed out a few of her favorite stores and restaurants on the way, answering a few other questions about Iwatodai as they walked.

"How much further is it?" Hamuko asked, breathing heavily. "I didn't realize you'd grown up to be a slave driver." Yukari laughed nervously. "Sorry, I just really want to get back to the dorm. Lots to do tomorrow, and all that. It's just around the corner, actually." She looked at her watch again. Five minutes until midnight. That was just barely enough time to get in and show them to their rooms.

Hamuko snapped her fingers. "Oh! I'm sorry, I completely forgot that you're scared of the dark!" "Oh," Minato said, "I forgot also, sorry. And I'm very sorry that you had to wait for us! There was a severe delay- someone jumped on the tracks, apparently. It took a while to, uh, clean up the mess." Hamuko nudged him. "Gross, you didn't have to say it like that. Use a euphemism or something." Yukari blinked at the casual discussion of what was likely a gory death, before shaking her head and walking up the dorm steps and holding the door open. "Come on in! Welcome to the dorm."

The twins walked inside, taking a look around. The drab green carpet showed several stains, and the room was framed by walls with fading paint. A collection of worn chairs and couches surrounded an old coffee table. A CRT television sat nearby, and a kitchen could be seen further into the room. Yukari smiled. "It's not much, but it's home."

The twins were smiling. "It's wonderful!" Hamuko said. "I'm so excited! This finally seems real. I have a really good feeling about this year!"

Yukari smiled, and glanced at her watch again. Three minutes remaining. They needed to really hurry. "Well, let's get you signed in really quick, then I'll show you to your rooms and we can get to bed! I'll show you to school tomorrow morning." Yukari showed them the sign-in book and they wrote their names, then she ushered them up the steps, pointing out the bathrooms and the kitchen on the way. "The second floor is the boys' floor. Minato-kun, your room's at the end of the hall on the right, and here's your key. I'll see you tomorrow!" She went up the steps quickly, then turned and waited for Hamuko to follow. Minato blinked. Hamuko looked at him with confusion, before he shrugged and walked down the hallway. "See you tomorrow." "Yeah, see you."

Hamuko followed Yukari up the steps, and Yukari showed her to a room. "Hamuko-chan, here's your room! And here's your key. My room is just over there. I'm going to bed, see you in the morning!" And the door was shut, leaving Hamuko alone inside. Yukari nearly ran to her room and sat down once inside. _That was way too close. Thirty seconds until midnight. At this point, they'll definitely be conscious when the Dark Hour strikes. Stupid, stupid! But they would've gotten here even later had I not showed them the way. I didn't have much of a choice here, did I?_

The air around her seemed to bend and twist for an infinitesimal fraction of a second before her room took on a green tinge, and a chill went through Yukari as an ominous feeling settled in her stomach.

In her mind's eye, she saw a scene she'd dwelt on many times. She was out with friends from school, laughing and sharing a drink they'd obtained from an upperclassman. She was tipsy, as was her companion. Yuko was complaining about the prospect of dealing with the kendo team in the fall. Her duties as team manager, or as the kendo club members called her, the team mom, could be overwhelming at times. Yuko was much more drunk than Yukari was, and she leaned on Yukari. "You know, girl," Yuko said, slurring her words, "we just really need to find ourselves… boyfriends! Imagine if we had boyfriends to complain to, and cuddle at night, and… and do other things with." Her rosy cheeks turned redder, as did Yukari's. "That'd solve soooo many of our prob-"

The world around Yukari seemed to spin and she suddenly felt very dizzy. She closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to clear her mind and focus. She looked over to Yuko and found that she was gone. Yukari's arm was wrapped around a tall wooden box. She gasped and stepped back. Her friend had turned into… what appeared to be a wooden coffin with a cross on the front. Yukari looked around her. She stood alone in the street, surrounded by… coffins. Upright coffins stood all around her, where moments before there had been people laughing and talking. There was a green tint to the world, with mist furling along the ground that obscuring her vision. The street around her was completely silent. The only sound was that of her rapidly beating heart. Yukari looked around frantically, trying to find where everyone had gone. "H- hello?" she called. "Where is everyone?" The streetlights had gone back, but the green light seemed to suffuse the area, despite there being no apparent source. She took a few steps back, tripped on the curb, and fell to the ground. Her hand landed in a puddle, and she pulled it out quickly, still looking around. She was growing scared, and she started breathing heavily. She stood, shaking off her hand, and looked at it to check for a scrape. Her hand was covered in blood. Yukari's eyes widened, and she searched for an injury, but found none. She looked down at the puddle. It was crimson and opaque. Blood. Yukari's head throbbed, and her vision blurred. She absentmindedly noted that she was hyperventilating.

A noise. Off to the left. It sounded like someone slurping, but the noise was faint and continuous. Yukari looked, but didn't see anything yet. "Hello? Who's there?" she called, her heart racing. "Show yourself!" She stood still, willing herself to step forward, but too terrified to move. The slurping was louder, now, and a dizzy spell hit Yukari. She started to fall over, but managed to just fall to one knee, holding her head. After a few seconds, it passed, and Yukari pulled her hands away, realizing with a tinge of nausea that she must have smeared blood all over her face and hair. She heard what sounded like a trashcan falling over, and her head jerked up. Across the street was a silhouette in the mist, growing closer, that seemed ever larger and… less human. Yukari forced herself to stop breathing shallow, quick breaths. She closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, exhaled. Then she opened her eyes and screamed.

_Stop that! You're being silly again, you're perfectly safe._ Yukari rubbed her eyes and forced herself back to the present. She knew she'd be safe in the dormitory, and yet she still felt scared every time the Dark Hour hit. Yukari sighed, and steeled herself to leave her room.

She wasn't terrified of wandering the dorm during the Dark Hour, no. She'd learned to handle the whole 'water turns into blood' thing, and the green lighting was eerie, but she could deal with that. No, she was worried that she would walk into the hallway to see a silent coffin outside of Hamuko's doorway. She was afraid that her childhood friends would be as helpless as everyone else in the city, that they wouldn't be able to face this nightmare with her and stand by her side. She scolded herself. _No, that's selfish! The best thing for them would be to stay unaware of all this. Then they won't be in danger. God, I hope... I don't know what I hope._

Yukari stood up slowly, walking to the door. Her hand shook as she reached for the doorknob. _Get ahold of yourself! Don't be a coward._ She grabbed the door and wrenched it open, rushing outside and looking down the hallway.

It was empty.

Yukari breathed a sigh of relief, glad that she wouldn't have to face the truth just yet. She knew now what she wanted. She selfishly wanted them to be conscious, because she was tired of feeling scared and alone. She couldn't trust anyone in SEES. She hadn't really trusted anyone for a long, long time. She sighed and turned towards the stairs to go to the command room, only to bump into something. She squealed and stepped back.

"Yukari-chan are you alright? I didn't mean to scare you." Hamuko stood with a worried expression on his face. "I was just going to see Hamuko, but- ah, I… didn't expect to see you." Yukari stared. He seemed okay, no obvious symptoms of adjusting to the Dark Hour. People typically suffered confusion, dizziness, nausea, and an assortment of other symptoms as their bodies rejected the very time period itself as unnatural. She realized several moments had passed while she stared, and hurriedly spoke. "Oh no, you're fine, I just didn't see you there. Eh heh. Sorry." She looked back down the hallway. "I was just, uh, going to the bathrooms myself. A- anyway, have a good..." Yukari looked down. "I… can't do this, this is too awkward. Um... are you okay?"

Minato blinked. "I'm fine, yeah. I mean, uh, I wasn't sure how to broach the topic, but... um, how are you… awake? It's... this time, I've never met anyone else during this time, except Hamuko obviously, and- well, uh, are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine!" Yukari squeaked. "It's just. I didn't know if you'd be… awake either, or if you'd be a- you said that you've experienced this time before?"

Minato nodded. "Yeah, since our- I mean, for as long as I can remember. Hamuko, too. Do you know anything about this time?"

Yukari's eyes widened, then she schooled her expression and pushed her shock aside. She nodded, then thought better of it and shook her head, then hesitated. "W- yeah, I know a few things. I mean, obviously water turns to blood, and people- most people, anyway, turn into coffins, and..." Yukari sighed. This whole thing was not at all close to the plan that Mitsuru had explained to her. "You know, can we save the conversation about this for later? It really is pretty late and we've got a big day tomorrow. We can meet tomorrow evening and talk all about it."

Minato nodded. "Okay, sure. I guess I'll go to bed then. See you in the morning, Yukari-chan."

"Goodnight, Minato-kun."

Yukari went to the bathroom and pondered the situation. _Were they really aware of the Dark Hour their whole lives? That's… truly horrifying. I only recently became aware of it, and I'm still scared by it. I can't imagine going through it as a child._

Yukari stood in the bathroom awkwardly. She didn't really need to use them, but she'd used that excuse and so would've felt bad if she hadn't actually stepped inside. She hated going to the bathroom during this time and avoided it whenever possible. Thankfully, the dorm had installed old-fashioned flush toilets without bidets. Flush toilets actually worked because they didn't use any electricity. But the water pooled inside the toilets turned to blood, so the experience was extremely unpleasant. She used hand sanitizer on her way out, glancing at the sink and grimacing. She'd made the mistake of trying to wash her hands when she was new to all this, and it still haunted her.

Back in her room, she lay on her bed and sighed. A small smile crept onto her face. Despite all her fear and anxiety, she found that she felt truly happy. Her dearest friends had returned, and they seemed to act the same as they did a decade ago. The car crash that killed their parents had apparently not ruined their outlook on life like she'd feared. And they didn't turn into lifeless objects at midnight! The very idea of turning into a coffin was extremely unsettling. It seemed like dying for an hour. She might've broken down at the sight of either of the twins like that. She felt guilt mix into her euphoria, but quashed it down. _They'll be fine. I haven't been hurt yet by Shadows. We'll all be fine, and we'll have an excellent year together. I can relate to Hamuko's excitement. For the first time in a long time, I've got something to look forward to._

Yukari fell asleep with a smile on her face.


	2. Settling In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got another 20k or so words written past this chapter. Like most fanfiction authors, reviews feed my drive to continue writing. Please don't let me starve. I especially welcome any critiques; this is my largest writing project to date.

Hamuko had just changed into pajamas when she heard a knock at her door. "It's me," her brother's voice called, and he opened the door. Hamuko put her hands on her hips. "You shouldn't just barge in when a lady is changing, you know." Minato smiled. "It's a good thing there wasn't a lady changing in here, then." Hamuko opened her mouth to say something snarky, but Minato kept speaking. "By the way, Yukari's awake."

Hamuko blinked. "Well yeah, we just got h- wait, like, right now? During the Green Time?" Her eyes widened, and Minato nodded. "What- how do you know that?" "Ran into her on my way over here," he said. "That's… that's amazing! Do you know how? Why? What does she know about this?"

Her brother shook his head. "Slow down, I can only answer one question at a time. She seems to know a little bit more than we do, but she didn't want to talk much more about it tonight. She said we'd talk about it tomorrow. And I don't blame her, it's very late and I don't want to sleep through class on the first day. Also, she calls it the Dark Hour."

Hamuko had to admit that was a much better name than Green Time. Her mind wondering, Hamuko was silent for a moment. "Do you think… there's any connection between what brought her into the Dark Hour and… the accident?"

"I have no idea, Hamuko. But she seemed surprised that we'd been aware of it for that long, though she tried to hide it. I... don't think she's experienced it for as long as we have. I can only guess that she somehow recently became aware of it."

"… How does someone _become_ aware of it? One night you're a coffin, the next you're not?"

"I don't know, but I think we don't have nearly enough information to tackle the questions you're asking, and there's no use worrying about it until tomorrow. We'll learn something about it then. Let's just wait and see." He pulled a toothbrush out of his pocket and tossed it onto her desk. "This was in my bags, it's why I came up here."

"Oh," Hamuko said, "thank you. I was wondering where that went. I thought I'd have to buy another."

Minato surveyed the room. Clothes were strewn about. "… You've been here for fifteen minutes, and you've already managed to make a mess." He shook his head in disappointment.

"I bet your room's just as bad. Anyway, get out so I can sleep."

He walked to the door and opened it, then stopped in surprise. Outside the door was a child dressed in black and white striped pajamas. His hair was faded black, and his eyes were bright blue. He smiled.

"You're late. I've been waiting a long time for you."

He walked into the room and placed a thin red notebook on Hamuko's desk. _I didn't even notice he was carrying that._

"Now," the boy continued, "if you want to proceed, please sign your name there. It's a contract. Don't worry, all it says is that you'll accept full responsibility for your actions. You know, the usual stuff."

The siblings stared for a moment, then spoke at the same time. "Who are you? Do you live here?" Minato asked at the same time that Hamuko asked, "You're conscious? Who are you?" They glanced at each other then looked back at the boy. His expression did not change. "It's getting rather late. There will be time for questions later. This is important."

The siblings looked at each other, and Hamuko moved forward first. She signed her name. Minato then walked over and skimmed the contract before signing.

The boy seemed pleased. He picked up the notebook and stepped back from the desk, facing the twins. He turned the thin notebook so that the profile of the thin side was just barely visible, and he kept turning his hand, and the notebook vanished. He lowered his hand and smiled.

"No one can escape time. It delivers us all to the same end."

He walked through the doorway and turned back. "And so, it begins." He walked down the hallway out of view.

The twins rushed forward and rounded the corner. "Hey!" Hamuko said.

The hallway was empty.

Brother and sister looked at each other, seeking explanation. Neither had one to provide, so they returned to their respective rooms.

* * *

There was a pounding at the door. Hamuko cracked her eyes open, breaking the crust that seemed to hold them together, and she groaned.

"Hamuko-chaaaan, time for school!" a voice chirped.

She closed her eyes again and burrowed into her blankets. "I'm awake!" she grumbled as she fell back into sleep.

An indeterminate amount of time later, there was knocking again. "Hamuko-chan, are you ready?"

Hamuko pulled the blanket over her head, hoping that if she didn't respond, whoever it was would go away.

She heard the door open but didn't pay it much mind. She didn't care about the footsteps either. She did care when her delightfully warm blanket was viciously yanked away. She lunged for it, moaning. "No! I'm still sleeping!" She reached further and further before eventually tumbling off the bed. She tried to glare at her stupid brother standing over her with a stupid grin on his stupid face, but it was too bright to properly open her eyes. She settled for kicking his shin. "That's my blanket!" She curled up on the floor.

"Time for school. You're awake, right?" She could hear the smugness in his voice and was glad she couldn't see right now. She had no desire to see his expression at the moment. She knew all too well the smug expression that would be on his face right now.

Hamuko stopped as his words hit her. "Oh shit, school!" She scrambled off of the floor and looked at the time, then at the doorway where Yukari stood giggling and watching. "What?" Hamuko was confused why she was laughing. Yukari smiled. "You two are so cute." The twins glanced at each other and Hamuko blushed, spluttering. Minato cheekily grinned. "It's okay Hamu-chan, she was obviously mostly talking about me." Hamuko shook her head and smacked her brother. "As if! I'm the cute one, you just look grumpy all the time." She focused on the brunette. "How much time do I have?" she asked desperately. "About three minutes!" Yukari responded cheerily.

"Ah! Get out loser, I've got to change!" she shoved her brother out and slammed the door, hastily slipping out of her pajamas into her wrinkly uniform and yanking things out of her backpack and shoving other stuff into it. Sixty seconds later, she rushed through the doorway, breathing heavily. "Come on let's go! I don't want to be late!" She hurried down the corridor, the other two following and shaking their heads.

"Don't shake your heads at me, you're the ones who didn't wake me up!" Hamuko grumbled. "I did wake you up forty minutes ago," Yukari laughed, "and you told me you were awake!" "Yukari-chan," Minato interjected, "the error you made was assuming that she's self-sufficient. Remember? She's only six years old." Yukari laughed, and Hamuko grumbled. "We're twins, idiot! If I'm six, you are too!" Minato just shook his head. "We've been over this. You know there's a distinction between physical and mental age. Honestly, even a five-year-old could remember that we had this discussion last night."

Hamuko mumbled offensive comments as they came to the kitchen. Yukari interrupted her insults. "The kitchen is stocked every week with a bit of food. Bread, cereal, oatmeal, ramen, a little fruit. It's not that much, so you'll want to get your own groceries or eat out for dinner, but everyone's welcome to them. Anything else is personal stuff. There's a decent selection of cooking ware, just make sure you clean up after yourself." Hamuko grabbed a slice of bread and jammed it into the toaster, and grabbed a slightly spotty banana as well. Neither of the other two grabbed anything, and she looked at them, confused. "We already ate," Yukari explained. "Minato-kun knows how to make a great omelette!"

Hamuko turned to him, her eye twitching. He snickered. "You've been up long enough to cook yourself a proper breakfast, and you let me sleep in that much?!" He shrugged and smirked. Hamuko responded to his immature petulance by whining. "You know how I am! I'm not in control of myself in the morning! I can't be held responsible for my actions when I'm sleepy!"

He laughed at her pain. "Relax. I did fry an egg for you. It'll go nicely on that toast." He opened the microwave to reveal a pristine, perfectly fried egg resting on a paper towel. Hamuko pulled it out and squealed in delight. "Ooh, yay! You're the best brother, thank you!" He rolled his eyes. Fine, if he didn't appreciate her gratitude then she'd just withhold it. He clearly didn't deserve it anyway, since he didn't make her an omelette too.

"As amusing as this is," Yukari said, "we really need to get going or we'll be late." Hamuko snatched her toast, topped it with her prized fried egg, and marched to the door. "Come along, my retinue! We must be off." Minato jumped in front of her and held the door open, bowing his head as she passed. "My lady," he intoned. Yukari giggled again and- was that a hint of a blush Hamuko saw on her brother's face? And Yukari's cheeks were slightly rosy as well! Ooh, that would definitely be great to tease Minato about later! Her excitement at discovering a way to make fun of her brother warred with the jealous feelings inside her. _She was my friend first! I like her more! Go make some friends of your own!_ She quickly hushed that part of herself. _Minato and Yukari are just as good friends as she and I are. Neither he nor I have any other friends here yet anyway, so you're being silly. She's not just using me to get close to him. Even if they do get together, she's not going to abandon me for him. She's better than that._

* * *

Yukari closed the door behind them, explaining that it locked automatically, and then showed the way to the monorail station that would take them to school. Minato's old friend was wearing the school uniform, slightly modified. Her skirt was quite short- possibly above fingertip length, he noted while trying not to stare. She wore a pink cardigan. _Pink always was her favorite color._ The front of the cardigan was decorated with the girls' equivalent of the boys' mandatory school tie: a thick red ribbon tied in a large bow. Her shoulder-length brunette hair was pulled back, and around her neck was a choker with a heart-shaped latch. Minato chided himself for thinking it, but he had to admit to himself that she'd grown up to be absolutely stunning. Maybe he should take a page out of her book and modify his uniform a little. Apparently, the dress code was relatively relaxed, so it was unnecessary for him and Hamuko to adhere to it so strictly.

Speaking of his sister, she had ceased her antics, adopting a more pensive expression. Minato knew that look. His sister was deep in thought, and if he interrupted her now, she'd refuse to tell him what was on her mind. She could be incredibly stubborn at times. It was best to wait and let her approach him later. Or he could ask her about it later, after she was thinking about other things. Then she'd be less defensive about the previous issue and she might let something slip. He shrugged and engaged Yukari in conversation while they found spots on the monorail.

"So, we haven't seen you in about a decade or so. What have you been up to? Did you ever leave Iwatodai?"

Yukari shook her head. "No, I've pretty much stayed here the whole time, though we moved around a bit. I've just been, you know, going to school. Living life. Shopping a bit more than I should." The two shared a smile. "It really is great to see you two again. It was... pretty lonely at times, growing up. You were my best friends."

Minato's smile faded. "And you were ours. We, uh, didn't have much choice in the matter, sorry..." Images of a burning, wrecked car filled his mind. Intense heat suffused the air and he could barely breathe. His small, frail, broken body looked into the front seat to see- _No. Don't think about that right now._

Yukari shook her head nervously, and Minato snapped back to the present. "No, I'm sorry for bringing that up, and I didn't mean to make you feel guilty or anything. I was just trying to, to fill you in, you know. On what I've been up to." _'Bringing that up'? Does she know? I didn't think anybody had told her anything... Wait- our parents were friends and coworkers! Surely her father would have told her about the accident. I can't believe I never realized that._

"After you guys left, I spent most of my life living in dorms, and focusing on school. Planning for the future, and all that. I came to Gekkoukan because it's the most prestigious high school in the area. I'm in the archery club there- it's been a hobby of mine for a while now, and I'm hoping it might snag me a scholarship to college."

Minato wanted to ask if she knew about the accident, but he didn't want to force the conversation to dwell on an unpleasant topic. "Ah, I didn't know you were into archery. That's cool. I've never used a bow myself, though I've always wanted to. I might consider joining up if there's room." Yukari gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry, the club's full already- signups were at the end of last year, and we filled up. I could probably let you try after practice one day though, if you're really interested. And there are several other clubs that still have openings. I think there's swimming, track, kendo, cooking, music, art... probably a few others."

Minato's eyebrows rose at the mention of kendo. "Kendo? I might join that one, I'm pretty good at it. My last school didn't have a kendo club, so I'm out of practice, but it'd be nice to pick it up again."

"Oh really? I'm friends with the club manager Yuko Ishikawa, I'll put in a good word for you." He nodded appreciatively. "That'd be great, thanks." The two were silent for a moment, then Yukari noticed something out the window and she pointed, grabbing Hamuko's attention as well. "Look!"

The monorail soared over the azure water, heading towards one end of a large island. Buildings of various sizes dotted the landscape, but the largest structure was one he recognized from looking the school up online.

"Wow," Hamuko said while admiring the view. "Hey Minato, did I pick a scenic school to go to or what?" She grinned, and Minato wanted to say something about how he didn't even want to come back to this city, but that would ruin the mood. Besides, if they hadn't come back, they might never have run into Yukari again. So he simply nodded, and, though it hurt his pride, he admitted that his sister was right. "You did." Her cheeky grin gave him the urge to retaliate somehow, but he restrained himself. _At least one of us needs to act maturely._ They admired the view in silence until arriving at the station, where Yukari showed them the path to school.

"Well," she said, "here we are. Welcome to Gekkoukan High!" They walked through the gates. Students milled around, catching up with friends and glancing at the new arrivals. Minato noticed a lot of people glancing at Yukari as she led the two transfer students into the school. She was talking about the school, but Minato was having trouble listening as he caught loud whispers from the people they walked past.

"Hey, who are they?"

"They must be new students."

"Damn, she's cute!"

"He's not half bad himself... Looks a little emo, though."

"That bastard, he gets to walk to school with both of them?"

"Takeba-san, I love you!"

"New girl-san, I love you!"

The last two comments were yelled as they walked into the school. Minato sighed and turned to the girls, both of whom were blushing. "Yes, Hamuko, you picked a fine school," Minato said sarcastically. She smacked his arm. "Oh, come on, you and I both know that we get that sort of thing wherever we go to school. It's just... high schoolers being high schoolers." Well, she wasn't wrong. For the past several years, Hamuko had always had more than her fair share of admirers. Minato always had a few of his own as well. _Aren't we quite the popular trio? If I'm reading the situation right, I may become less popular if I keep walking to school with these two... or at least, with Yukari. Surely fanboys won't mind me walking with Hamuko... oh who am I kidding, they'll probably get mad at me being there because they'll be too awkward to ask her out in front of me. Or they'll come up with some equally ridiculous complaint.  
_

Yukari smiled. "Yeah, you get used to it. Anyway, you'll want to go to the faculty office first to find your homeroom. Oh, before I forget, let's exchange phone numbers." The twins traded numbers with Yukari, then she went upstairs while they walked to the faculty office.

_"He got their numbers already?! What the hell, man? Leave some for the rest of us!"_

Minato tried his best not to smirk, he really did.

* * *

"Yo man, how's it going? You seem to be doing alright for yourself so far!"

The two new students seemed to already know Yukari, considering the rumors. Not that Junpei Iori, gentleman and scholar, put much stock in foolish rumors, but usually there was a grain of truth to them.

The blue-haired transfer student blinked. "It's going alright," he said cautiously. "Oh, sorry- I didn't really explain himself," Junpei apologized. "I'm Junpei Iori. I was new here last year, so I know what it's like to be the new student. Plenty of rumors and all that. I don't put any stock in them myself, but it's still not pleasant to hear them. Anyway, if you have any questions or need anything, I've got your back!"

The apparently expressionless bluenette nodded slightly. "Thanks. Nice to meet you."

Junpei leaned forward and cocked an eyebrow. "But uh, some of those rumors are pretty wild. Is it true you walked to school with-" "Yes," he interrupted, "it's all true. Every word of it."

Junpei's eyes widened. "Every word of it?" The boy nodded seriously. Junpei gaped, then caught himself and narrowed his eyes at the new student. "Wait a second, you don't even know what the rumors are, do you?" The seated boy's shrugged and he gave a little smile. "No, I don't, but I can imagine."

Junpei sighed. "Man. Here I was, thinking you had actually gotten into a threesome last night with both those cuties you walked to school with." Minato's face turned red and he spluttered. "I'll have you know that was my sister!" Junpei grinned. "Oh, I know! I know she's your sister, I saw your introduction to the class earlier. I just figured that was only fair, considering the trick you just pulled." The blue-haired boy narrowed his eyes, before resuming his usual expression, except with a small smile. He extended his hand. "Minato Arisato." Junpei shook it.

"Really, I was just gonna ask if Yukari actually walked with you to school? Because several guys here think you've got the devil's own luck for that! She's turned down so many dudes, there's an unofficial lonely hearts club of rejected lovers." Minato raised his one visible eyebrow, the other being covered by his bangs. "I didn't realize I was so fortunate. But there's nothing between us, don't worry."

With excellent timing, Yukari and the other Arisato walked up. Junpei greeted them and offered his hand to the other new student. "Hey Yuka-tan! Looks like we're in the same class again! And hello to you too! I'm Junpei Iori." She gave a firm handshake and introduced herself. "I'm Hamuko Arisato! Nice to meet you. I see you've already met my slacker brother! I hope the shoulder he's giving you isn't too cold!" Junpei shook his head. "No, he's been friendly so far." "Wow," Hamuko said, "I'm impressed Minato! Making friends already. You're growing up so fast!" She wiped a mock tear. Minato gave her the finger.

"Looks like we're all together," Yukari said. "Anyways, I've got archery practice, so I've got to run, but," she looked at Minato, "you um, haven't said anything about you-know-what, right?" Minato shook his head. "Seriously, don't say anything about last night, alright? And- wait, Minato-kun, have you told Hamuko-chan about what happened last night yet?" Minato shook his head. Yukari turned to Hamuko. "We ran into each other last night during, um... anyway, we're getting together again later. You should join too." She looked back at Minato. "Seriously, don't tell anyone, alright?" Minato smiled and reassured her. "I won't tell a soul, Yukari. Don't worry." Yukari sighed in apparent relief. "Thanks. Okay, I gotta run, see ya!" She turned to walk out the door.

"Uuuuum, what the hell did I just witness?" Junpei asked, catching Yukari's attention. "What exactly happened last night? And wh- you're already on first name basis with each other? And no honorifics?!" Junpei was in shock, struggling to find words. "And she's invited tonight?!" Yukari blushed furiously. "Hey! Stupei, it's nothing like that! It's- ugh, it's a private matter, but we're childhood friends, okay? He gets to skip honorifics if he wants to!" She turned to Minato and pointed her finger at him. "Don't think I haven't noticed that smirk!" she growled. "You did that intentionally! I'll get you for this later!" "But Yukari," Minato said innocently, "I don't know what you're-" "You know damn well what you did!" she said fiercely, but Junpei could see she was struggling not to smile. She stormed out of the room, still blushing. Junpei held his breath, unsure of what he just saw. The silence was broken by giggling from Hamuko. She started laughing uncontrollably. "That," she wheezed, "was great!" She weakly held up a hand and Minato gave her a high five, smirking once more.

Junpei shook his head. "Wow, I haven't seen Yuka-tan that flustered in a long time! That was... art!" He started laughing too, and Minato just sat there looking like the king of the world. He deserved it, Junpei admitted. "Man, just for that show, what say I treat you to ramen? On me, as thanks for the entertainment!" He looked at Hamuko. "Not just him of course, you should join too! It's always nice to make new friends!" She smiled. "Sure, I'd love to join! Is there any decent ramen in this city?"

Junpei gasped. "I didn't realize you were _that_ new. You've never been to Hagakure?" Hamuko shook her head. "Nope! Sounds like toothpaste." Junpei's jaw dropped. "You're coming with me to get ramen, and I won't forgive you for that insult unless you admit the ramen is literally from the gods!" She snickered. "I'm pretty picky about my ramen, so I'll be the judge of that!"

Minato raised an eyebrow. "You eat the cheapest possible packs of cup ramen for dinner." "Shut up!" Hamuko grumbled. "I just meant that I'm a good judge of ramen quality! Even bad ramen is still ramen, and therefore it is worthy of praise." Junpei smiled. He had a feeling he'd get along well with these two.

* * *

Mitsuru Kirijo was sitting in the common room of the dorm, reading a textbook. She wore her preferred arrangement of the school uniform- knee high boots and a pleated skirt with a crisp white dress shirt with a red ribbon in a bow. Her thick red hair rested on her shoulders, and the makeup on her face hid dark circles under her eyes. She was doing her best to study, having forced herself to stop stealing glances at the clock while waiting for the new students to return. She wouldn't admit it, even to herself, but she was eager to meet them for a variety of reasons.

She had been in the command room when Yukari returned the previous night at nearly midnight with the two transfer students in tow. She nearly panicked, thinking that a very difficult situation was about to occur. The Dark Hour would soon strike, and then one of a few things could happen. Best case scenario, they both turned into coffins and awkward explanations could be avoided. Well, best case scenario only in the sense of what would be easiest. Mitsuru actually very much hoped that the two would remain human, because SEES desperately needed more Persona users. If one or neither of them turned into coffins, then they'd be suffering symptoms of the Dark Hour. She didn't relish the idea of once again dealing with the smell of vomit in the carpet, and the confused state experienced by those new to the Dark Hour could be quite taxing to deal with. Not to mention that if only one of them turned into a coffin, the remaining twin would likely be rather upset by their sibling's disappearance.

Mitsuru had watched the security camera feeds, ready to dash downstairs if necessary, as Yukari rushed the twins to their rooms. Mitsuru breathed a sigh of relief as they barely beat the clock. She waited a minute to catch her breath, then just before the Dark Hour hit, she turned on the security camera feeds to the Arisatos' individual rooms. She hated these cameras, but they were a necessity sometimes, such as for figuring out if new members of the dorm actually experienced the Dark Hour. If they didn't experience the time, they'd be relocated to a different dorm very soon. This dorm was exclusively for SEES members.

She watched the twins' reactions as the hour struck midnight. The girl glanced outside, grimaced, then went about unpacking a few things. The boy... wasn't in his room?

Mitsuru cycled through the cameras before finding him on the girls' floor. She watched Yukari jump out in front of him, then watched him accidentally scare her. Mitsuru smiled at the interaction.

Her curiosity satisfied, she listened to the rest of the conversation. Mitsuru reacted similar to Yukari upon learning that they'd experienced the Dark Hour for their whole lives, except Mitsuru didn't have to hide her shock. That must have been... unpleasant... to experience as a child without any adults around. But, Mitsuru smiled, on the bright side, this meant that they _must_ both have the power of Persona. That was excellent news for SEES. Perhaps now that they had sufficient membership, they could explore Tartarus.

The dorm door opened, and Mitsuru gave a slight start before returning to reality. She schooled her expression to one suitable for a Kirijo heiress and waited, holding her breath, but it was only Yukari. Mitsuru was disappointed. She needed to throw herself into her studies, but she wouldn't be able to focus until properly meeting the new students. She wished they would hurry up and arrive so she could lock herself in her room and actually get work done.

"Welcome back," Mitsuru greeted. "Oh, hey," Yukari said as she walked to the kitchen and began preparing food. "Takeba, do you know when the Arisatos will return?" Mitsuru asked. "I would like to speak to them. Explanations will have to wait until tomorrow night when the chairman can come visit, but I should at least greet potential new members." Yukari looked confused, then made a face. "How did you… oh, the security cameras, right. No, I don't know when they'll be returning, I had archery practice. Last I saw them was in the classroom." She sat at the table and began slurping her instant ramen.

Mitsuru resisted the urge to sigh, and resumed reading her book. She was lost in thought when the door slammed open.

"Yukari-chaaaaaan! I need female company because all men are dumb!"

The female Arisato entered the room, loudly whining. She was followed by her brother. His hands were in his pockets, his face showing a hint of annoyance. "Don't lump me together with Junpei." Hamuko turned around and stuck her tongue out at him. "You're just as bad, just in other ways." She turned back around to Yukari. "He has trouble talking to pretty girls!"

Yukari smiled and fluttered her eyelashes. "But Mina-kun doesn't have any trouble talking to me."

Hamuko growled. "Not this idiot, the other idiot!"

Yukari snorted. "Well, yeah, it's a well-known fact that Junpei's not exactly suave."

Hamuko shook her head and pouted. "No, no, I mean that we were discussing his efforts to get himself a girl, and he looked directly in my eyes while saying the sentence 'I just can't talk to cute girls'!" Yukari mock gasped and covered a smile with her hand. Hamuko seemed not to notice that she was being teased as she continued ranting. "I've never been so insulted! I mean, it's not like I have any interest in the guy, but really!" She huffed. Minato sighed with exasperation. "He just misspoke, relax. Think of it this way- that means that he's definitely only interested in you as a friend, which is what you want, right?"

Hamuko stomped her foot. "It still makes me feel unattractive, damn it! You know I'm sensitive about having small boobs!" Minato facepalmed, and Yukari looked like she just realized something. "Wait… he talks to me all the time! He doesn't think I'm pretty?"

"That bastard," Minato said sarcastically.

"That bastard!" Hamuko agreed.

"That _bastard!_" Yukari growled.

"Ahem." Mitsuru cleared her throat, drawing attention to herself sitting on the couch. Hamuko's face brightened when she noticed her, and Minato's face became blank. Curious. "As amusing as this interaction is, I need to introduce myself. I am Mitsuru Kirijo, the student supervisor for this dorm. I hope you both are adjusting well."

"Well enough," Minato said neutrally. "It's been great so far!" Hamuko chirped.

"I'm glad," Mitsuru responded. "I see Yukari has already given you both dorm keys. Kindly don't lose them. You're welcome to any of the food in the fridge or pantry that does not already have a name on it. There is a marker for marking your own name on items you do not wish to share. You're expected to clean up after yourself. I have here two copies of the student handbook; you are expected to familiarize yourself with all the rules contained therein."

"Typically, boys and girls are not allowed to mingle in bedrooms after dinner, but an exception can be made for siblings. I believe that is all, unless you have any questions?"

Minato and Hamuko glanced at each other and seemed to hold a silent conversation. They seemed to be deciding who would speak. _I'm aware that my demeanor can be off-putting,_ Mitsuru thought,_ but am I really so bad that neither of them is willing to talk to me? They only just met me!_ The silent discussion was apparently won by Minato, because Hamuko slumped slightly before turning to Mitsuru.

"Mitsuru-senpai, we want to talk about the Dark Hour."

Mitsuru raised an eyebrow. She didn't think they'd have the guts to bluntly ask like that. "I see. Well, I'm aware that you were expecting to discuss it tonight, but we will have to hold this meeting two days from now. I'll explain what we know then, just after midnight. During the Dark Hour."

Hamuko's face was disappointed, but she nodded. "Alright." Mitsuru noted that her brother's expression hadn't changed throughout the conversation. It was rather unnerving.

The three juniors went upstairs to work on homework. Mitsuru sighed and followed their example.

* * *

"Aware of the Dark Hour for many years, you say? That's amazing!" Shuji Ikutsuki, chairman of the school and club advisor of SEES, was smilling widely.

It was just after midnight, and the chairman had shown up a few minutes ago. He explained that he hadn't expected to be able to come over today, but that he was excited to get a chance at 'observation'. The command room on the fourth floor held several chairs and couches around a coffee table. The walls of the room were lined with bookcases containing textbooks, manuscripts, and miscellaneous files. There was a door in the corner leading to an office for the chairman. One wall of the room was reserved for a row of screens and a large control panel. On the screens were video feeds from the dormitory's security cameras. Two screens showed the inside of Minato's and Hamuko's rooms. Minato was studying, while Hamuko appeared to be getting ready for bed. Yukari felt very uncomfortable with the situation.

"Do we really have to… spy on them like this?" Yukari asked uncomfortably. The chairman and Mitsuru were the only other people in the command room, Akihiko apparently having gone out, as usual. Mitsuru spoke without turning around. "This is to verify to the chairman that they're able to function during this time. Additionally, we must examine for signs of them being new to the Dark Hour."

"We already know they've experienced it for years," Yukari protested. Mitsuru swiveled her chair to look at Yukari. "No, we only know that they told you that. He could've been lying." Yukari narrowed her eyes. "He was my best friend. They both were. He wouldn't lie to me." Mitsuru swiveled back to the screen. "Be that as it may, we will still observe them. Information is always a useful tool." Yukari was pissed, at Mitsuru and Ikutsuki for doing this and pushing her into it, and at herself for not having the guts to refuse. She considered texting the twins, but she'd definitely be caught. She started weighing the pros versus the cons of informing them.

"Wouldn't it be nice to have fellow members your own age?" the chairman asked. His gaze hadn't moved from the video feeds since the conversation began. He wore a tan suit and thick glasses, and he had long brown hair. "We need to make sure they're stable during this time. Besides, gathering some more data could be useful for later analysis."

"Well, yeah, I get that, but still…" Yukari's voice faded as Hamuko removed her shirt, and Ikutsuki finally diverted his gaze to the floor, looking rather abashed. "Well. Perhaps not all data is important." He removed his glasses and started cleaning them with a handkerchief. Yukari reddened slightly. _I still feel terrible about this… but that's actually a pretty cute bra._

After removing her shirt, she paused. With it still wrapped around her forearms, Hamuko paused and looked around the room, scanned the ceiling closely. Her eyes locked on to the camera, and she looked furious. She yanked her desk chair over and stood on it. Her face was directly in front of the camera. "God damn perverts," she muttered. She spoke softly, but she was so close to the microphone that her voice sounded loud. "Had enough of you bastards growing up." She reached up and started fiddling with the camera. The video feed spun wildly as she apparently disconnected the camera from the ceiling. After a few seconds, the perspective stilled. They were looking upside down at her bed. "Wait," Hamuko's voice continued, "how is this thing even operating during the Dark Hour? Electronics shouldn't be working right now." Then the video feed went dead. The audio followed shortly thereafter.

Ikutsuki smiled. "My, she is quite perceptive, isn't she? There are certainly no signs of confusion from that one." Mitsuru was frowning, but a smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "That's school property. She had better not damage it." Yukari snickered at the situation. She was surprised that Mitsuru and the chairman took it in stride, though- she thought that they would've been upset at the loss of their ability to 'observe' and 'gain information'.

After a moment, Minato's phone buzzed, and he looked at it. He then pulled the same stunt as Hamuko- he scanned the ceiling, found the camera, dragged his desk chair over and deactivated the camera, muttering something to himself. Yukari was proud of her friends, and thankful to them for removing her from the situation. She was bothered by what Hamuko had said, though. _Perverts in foster homes? I can guess what that means… ugh, that's terrible._

Ikutsuki chuckled. "Well, so much for all that. They seem like interesting individuals." Mitsuru seemed to be pouting. _I guess she doesn't like it when someone tells her what she can't do._

"Since our attempts at observation have been shut down, let's make sure that we're all up to date on what we know about the new recruits," Ikutsuki said. He retrieved two thick manila folders from his briefcase. "Here is all their information from past school, foster homes, etc. It's everything we know about them. Thankfully, much of the info on schooling and housing is identical, so you only really have to read one folder thoroughly." He chuckled. "Mitsuru's read the information already, but I don't believe you've had the opportunity to, Yukari-chan. Here." He held the folders out.

Yukari looked at them. Here was private information about her childhood best friends. She could find out where they had been the past decade, find out more specific details about their parents' deaths, and learn a lot about her long-lost friends. Or… she could instead respect their privacy.

Yukari made her decision and shook her head. "No thank you, Ikutsuki-san. It wouldn't feel right."

Mitsuru turned to Yukari. "This is just information, Takeba. If you're friends, they'll share it with you anyway, and we need to maximize our chances of them agreeing to join SEES. Two more Persona-users would be incredibly helpful."

"I said no thank you," Yukari said sharply. "They are my friends, and I can't do something like this to them. It's been a decade and there's a lot about them that I don't know, yeah, but I'll just have to reconnect with them over time and be satisfied with whatever they decide to share with me."

Mitsuru's brow furrowed, but she nodded. "If you insist, I won't force you to. Personally, I feel that I don't have the luxury of choosing to be ethical in this situation. Lives are at stake, and we need to save as many people as we can. To do that, SEES needs as many members as it can get, which means we need to know what will convince members to join."

"I still don't think it's really necessary that you learn everything about them, but fine." _I'm tired of your attitude, and I'm not going to be bullied into disrespecting my friends!_ Ikutsuki stepped in. "Now, now, Mitsuru, surely you can respect Yukari-chan's position here. She is the closest of us to them, it's only natural that she'd be uncomfortable with using these methods on her friends." "Thank you for understanding, Ikutsuki-san," Yukari said. Mitsuru turned back to the chairman. "If you won't be participating, Takeba, then you should get some sleep." Yukari left the command room without another word.

* * *

After Yukari left, Mitsuru sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"It wouldn't hurt for the two of you to try to get along a little better. You're teammates, and conflict isn't good within a team," the chairman idly stated while flipping through the folders.

Mitsuru grimaced. "I do my best not to provoke her, but I don't know how to stop offending her." Yukari held a strong dislike for Mitsuru. It didn't take a genius to notice the girl's opinion of her. Mitsuru knew the girl resented her for keeping secrets, _and perhaps for the leadership positions I hold, _but they also tended to have different attitudes. Mitsuru took a more realistic perspective to things, while Yukari was led by her emotions. _No, 'realistic' isn't a fair word. The girl has a point about respecting her friends' boundaries. My thoughts betray my own biases... it'd be more reasonable to call my perspective 'practical', or maybe 'unattached'._ Despite their differences, Mitsuru held no ill will towards the girl, so long as she performed well in school and in her extracurricular duties. She hadn't had much of a chance yet to prove herself in SEES duties, however, so Mitsuru's final judgment on her was yet to come.

"Maybe you two should spend some casual time together, outside of SEES activities," the chairmen suggested. "You could get some coffee, or go to karaoke. I was at the karaoke bar the other day, and delivered an amazing rendition of my favorite song. It was a thrill! I think that even if my worst enemy had been present, after I felt the delightful high of that performance, I would've been happy to try and talk things out."

Mitsuru raised an eyebrow at the thought of the chairman singing his heart out in public, and felt vaguely nauseous. "Unfortunately, the place was all but empty when I finished singing. What a pity," he sighed dramatically. "It was rather late- I guess everyone needed to go home."


	3. Warming Up

Hamuko walked to school the next day with Minato and Yukari on either side of her. Minato had mercy and pulled Hamuko out of bed earlier today than he did yesterday so that she wouldn't be in such a rush, but he insisted that it was only so that she could take a turn cooking breakfast.

"You know, it's really nice to have cooked breakfasts," Yukari said. "I'm used to just having fruit or oatmeal, or maybe cereal. Nobody in the dorm really cooks."

"Well, fruit and oatmeal are a pretty good choice if you're watching your figure," Hamuko commented, "but doesn't it get kind of bland after a while?" Yukari shrugged. "Yeah, but I never saw much point in just cooking for myself. It's not really worth the effort to me unless I've got someone else I'm cooking for."

Hamuko snickered, "Sounds like Yuka-chan just volunteered to make breakfast tomorrow!" "Eh? Don't call me that, it's bad enough that Junpei uses that dumb nickname… well, I guess it's alright if you do it." On Hamuko's other side, Minato spoke up. "May I call you that… Yuka-chan?" he asked, trying not to smile. Yukari flushed slightly then smiled. "Only if I get to call you… Mina-kun." He blushed slightly, then nodded. "Sure, why not."

Hamuko whistled. "Man, I hope someone at school overhears you two call each other that. The rumor mill at this school is vicious. Minato, you might soon find thumbtacks on your chair from one of Yukari's many unrequited loves!" The two of them spluttered, and Hamuko continued. "Yeah, it'll be just like that one time that one kid- I forget his name, but you remember the one who thought you were stealing his crush's heart?"

Minato groaned. "Ugh, don't remind me. That guy had serious problems." Yukari laughed. "How's this story go? It sounds interesting." Minato shook his head and said, "You really don't want to know, it's not-"

"Oh but I think she clearly does want to know!" Hamuko interrupted with a grin. "So, little Minato-kun here was going to class, studying, being a good little boy, and then out of nowhere, after school this guy approaches us as we're walking home. He goes, 'hey, man, you're the one who's stealing my girl!' Now, obviously Minato had no idea who this guy was or who his girl was, but since I pay more attention than him," and here Minato elbowed her stomach, which she ignored, "I knew that his girlfriend sat diagonally behind Minato, and she would stare at him during class and sigh dreamily, probably thinking all sorts of inappropriate things. Not to mention unfaithful things, too, since she was already dating this guy- and he sat right behind _her_! So he got to watch her moon over Minato all day long!"

"Ouch," Yukari said. "That probably sucked for him."

"Sure, sure," Hamuko said, "but instead of talking to her about it like an adult, he confronts us after school like I mentioned, and after he gave that little spiel, Minato looks at him for a second and says, 'I don't know who you are, but don't look like the sort of guy who'd have a girl to steal.' " Yukari gasped and looked at Minato. "You didn't!" Minato shrugged with a little smile. "It's not like that guy was in any mood to be reasoned with. I was stressed, so I just spoke my mind." "Oh, that's terrible!" Yukari giggled. "So," Hamuko continued, "the guy's mouth flaps around like a fish before he starts to look all pissed, and he starts going on and on to the students nearby about how 'Pretty boy here can't keep his eyes off of my girl, pretty boy here better watch himself, pretty boy is a homewrecker', then Minato walks up to him and shyly smiles, and goes, '… so you think I'm pretty?' And he flutters his eyelashes at the dude!" Yukari guffaws and looks at Minato's beet-red face. "Then when the dude is just standing there starting at him, Minato walks a little closer and says quietly, gazing into his eyes 'I… kinda think you're cute too.' And he winks at him!"

Yukari doubled over laughing, and her face was bright red. Minato blushed and looked away from both of them. "It works on bullies, okay? Not all of them, but if they're just insecure enough in themselves, then it works great and they leave you alone forever! Plus, I think that guy had some unrepressed tendencies anyway… so I figure maybe I helped him realize something about himself." Yukari struggled to catch her breath, and Hamuko grinned widely. _Ah, nothing is as much fun as telling embarrassing stories about your brother!_

When she was able to speak, Yukari gasped out, "So, what happened next?" Hamuko shrugged. "Ah, the guy blushed harder than Minato just did, and he ran the hell away and never bothered us again."

"See? It works!" Minato insisted. "It's a valid strategy!"

"Uh huh, sure," Hamuko snickered. "Whatever it takes to let out those 'repressed tendencies' of yours, right?" Minato blushed and protested. "You're just lucky you didn't have to deal with shit like that!"

"It's okay, Mina-kun," Yukari smirked. "I've always wanted a gay best friend!" She winked at him, and Minato blushed and covered his face. "Nooooo," he whined, "I knew this story would come back to haunt me! I hate you, Hamuko!" Hamuko strolled along between the two of them, grinning proudly at a job well done.

"Hmm, I wonder if the girls at this school are into yaoi as much as the girls at that school were? I could make you so popular, Minato!"

Hamuko was chased the rest of the way to school, fleeing death threats from her brother. Yukari trailed behind, laughing uncontrollably.

* * *

"Oh my god," Yukari said, "we have so much homework already. Junior year looks like it's going to be so much harder."

"The curriculum here seems to be much more difficult than at our last school," Hamuko complained.

"You were the one that wanted to transfer here for the 'superior academic qualities' or whatever!" Minato grumbled.

"It's important for our futures to work hard and do well!" Hamuko chirped.

"You just did a one-eighty," Yukari mumbled. Minato heard her and gave her a look that said something along the lines of, 'See what I have to deal with?' Yukari snickered. Hamuko pretended not to notice the interaction.

"So! First up, let's do some math!" Hamuko cheered. Yukari and Minato groaned. "You just want to do math because you're good at it," he grumbled.

"Well yeah, doesn't it make sense to do the subject you're best at first? Here, I'll help you guys. We're supposed to have learned all of the stuff in this packet in past years, so this should just be review."

"Yeah, except our math teacher last year sucked, remember? You had to teach yourself out of the book in order to do well on the exams."

"Well, I don't think our teachers this year will accept that excuse! So, let's see… basic algebra, no problem, a section on the Pythagorean theorem- oh, I actually know a really cool derivation of that, I can show you guys later if you want, then a few questions on basic probability, and some trigonometry, that doesn't look too bad but I always forget the trig identities…"

Hours passed as Yukari and Minato had math beaten into them by Hamuko. _She really knows her stuff_, Yukari thought. _I'm really impressed. She didn't even go to Gekkoukan last year, and she knows more about this stuff than I do._

Eventually Hamuko was satisfied with their understanding, and she left them to grind some practice problems while she prepared food. She made a simple vegetable curry with white rice, her favorite meal. The three ate in the living room while she skimmed their answers, comparing them with her own. "Yeah, looks like you guys got this. Except for here- how many radians are in a circle, Minato?"

"Erm… not three-hundred and sixty?" he guessed. Hamuko sighed. "Well, you're not wrong, but the answer you should've given is two pi. Two pi radians in three-hundred and sixty degrees. That's pretty important to remember since we'll be doing basic calculus this year, so that means we'll be covering some precalculus concepts for the next month or two. Here, let's review the unit circle."

The door to the dorm opened, and a silver-haired boy walked in. He wore a red vest over his school uniform. He looked at the juniors and gave them a wave. "Hey."

"Akihiko-senpai!" Yukari greeted him. "This is Hamuko and Minato Arisato, the new transfer students." _I guess I'll just pretend that you haven't already read the files on them…_

He nodded. "Nice to meet you guys. I'm Akihiko Sanada, a senior at school. I'm the captain of the boxing team, so that keeps me at school late sometimes." He sniffed. "Is that… curry? The last time somebody actually cooked in this dorm… well, it's been a while."

"Oh, you're welcome to some if you like, senpai," Hamuko offered. "I might take you up on that, thank you, Hamuko-san." He walked into the kitchen and made himself a bowl. "Is there any meat in this?" he asked. "No, it just has onions, peppers, carrots, and potatoes. We didn't have any meat." He frowned slightly then reached into an upper cabinet and grabbed a plastic tub. Hamuko watched, curious. He added a scoop of powder from the tub to the curry in his bowl, and stirred vigorously.

"Akihiko-senpai, what are you adding? Hamuko asked.

"Protein," he responded. "I need some after a workout. It's important to help your body rebuild muscles."

"Don't ask," Yukari whispered. "He's kind of obsessed with it."

"Well," Hamuko whispered back, "it's kind of hard to argue with the results, isn't it?" She wiggled her eyebrows. Yukari blushed slightly and nudged her friend. "Hush, that's our senpai."

"You're so easy to rile up. Anyway," Hamuko continued, a little louder so that Minato could hear, "the unit circle is a circle with a unit radius; that is, with a radius of one. You know, because one is our primary unit for counting. The circle's useful for explaining trig functions…"

* * *

_That was some damn good curry. Wish it'd had some meat, though. That powder claims to be flavorless, but it has a little bit of an odd taste..._

Akihiko had spent the evening in his room studying and exercising during study breaks. Senior year academics were going to cut into his training time, but he supposed it was important. If his grades fell below average, Mitsuru would definitely raise hell. The girl had an odd way of showing her affection.

**Sanada Akihiko - Kirijo Mitsuru **at 3:26pm:

Sanada Akihiko: I'm heading out for the evening

Kirijo Mitsuru: It's getting worse out there. More apathy syndrome victims can only mean shadow activity is increasing.

Sanada Akihiko: I hope so. It's not worth my time otherwise

Kirijo Mitsuru: This isn't a game, Akihiko. Be cautious.

He sighed and flipped his phone shut. Such a nag. He'd be fine. Akihiko trotted down the stairs and grabbed a protein bar to eat later before heading for the door. He stopped at the sight in the living room.

Hamuko was sprawled in the middle of the couch, her legs spread slightly and feet propped up on the coffee table, wrinkling notes and homework. Her head laid back against the cushion, mouth wide open. She was softly snoring. In her lap laid both her brother's and Yukari's heads. The blue haired boy's legs were thrown over the arm of the couch, with his head on his sister's left leg, close to her knee, and his face turned towards her stomach. Yukari was curled up on her half of the couch, her head resting on Hamuko's right thigh. Yukari's and Minato's foreheads appeared to be touching.

Akihiko stood still for a moment, debating internally. Finally, he decided the only ethical course of action was to preserve this moment. He took several pictures with his phone. The camera was shoddy, unfortunately. Then again, perhaps if Yukari saw the photos later, she'd be grateful the quality was so poor, as it meant that you couldn't make out the small string of drool that dripped from her mouth onto Hamuko's skirt. Well, you couldn't see the drool in most of the photos, anyway. You could in the close-up that he took of her.

**Sanada Akihiko - Kirijo Mitsuru **at 3:26pm:

Sanada Akihiko sent an image.

Sanada Akihiko sent an image.

Sanada Akihiko sent an image.

Kirijo Mitsuru: Our kohai seem to be getting along well.

Sanada Akihiko: I feel like I should give them a blanket, but I don't know how to cover Hamuko without suffocating the other two. And I don't want to wake them up

Sanada Akihiko: I do, however, want to see the video of them waking up like this

Kirijo Mitsuru: Don't worry, I'll make sure the footage is saved.

Kirijo Mitsuru: Thank you for the valuable blackmail material.

* * *

Out of darkness came a blue light, and they were soaring forward, passing through a door. The blue light grew brighter until all was pure white; then it faded, revealing a room. Specifically, it appeared to be an elevator.

It was an old-fashioned elevator, the sort with chains running down the sides as it ascended. They were seated opposite an old man with a very long nose. At his side stood a pale woman with nearly white hair. In front of the old man was a table. The old man rested the tips of his fingers together, looked at them, and smiled.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room, my dear young guests. My name is Igor. I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This is Elizabeth. She's a resident here, like myself."

The woman gave them a thin smile and spoke. "Pleased to meet you."

Igor continued. "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter… it's been years since we had a guest. Even longer since we've had two at the same time."

He waved his hand, and the red notebook they had signed appeared on the table, flipping open so that the contract appeared.

"Only those who have signed the contract can enter this place. Henceforth, you shall be welcome here in the Velvet Room. You are destined to hone your unique ability, and you will require my help to do so. I only ask one thing in return: that you abide by the contract, and assume responsibility for the choices that you make.

The twins, seated next to each other, nodded.

"Hold on to these." Igor waved his hand, and two keys floated to each of his guests.

The old man smiled. "'Til we meet again…"

* * *

Morning light creeped through the dorm windows, and Minato's phone alarm went off. Minato turned to the right to hit his alarm clock- or he tried to, but something prevented his upper torso from moving. Moving his arm made him realize he'd fallen asleep with his jacket on, so he reached into his pocket and pressed the side button to make it shut up, then fell back into sleep. Fifteen minutes later, it beeped again, and he repeated his action. _Time to get up, I guess… Ugh, I make fun of Hamuko for not waking up in the morning, but I feel so warm and comfortable right now._ Just a few more minutes. The pillow was so soft against his face…

* * *

Hamuko woke to the sound of a slurp. Typically, she never woke up of her own volition, but she figured the slurping noise must have woken up her stomach, because she opened her eyes and felt refreshed and ready to face the day, or perhaps ready to instead have a large breakfast. She breathed deeply, then looked down, and grinned at the sight.

Apparently Yukari and Minato had fallen asleep in her lap last night. She vaguely remembered closing her eyes to rest for a minute, but figured she must've fallen asleep first. She wasn't quite sure how it'd happened, but the two must have laid their heads in her lap, and during the night, they'd… gotten rather close. Minato was laying on his side, his body to her left, and Yukari was laying on her back to Hamuko's right, her cardigan and shirt slightly pulled up, but her head rested on Hamuko's left thigh. There was something of an overlap in their upper bodies. Yukari's face was nuzzled into Minato's chest. His head rested… on top of her chest. His arms wrapped around her torso, under her arms. Her arms rested over his head, and her fingers were tangled in his hair. Minako studied the situation, trying to determine how to best turn it to her advantage and wondering where on earth she'd left her phone, when another slurping noise made her look up and smile even further. Akihiko-senpai leaned against the wall with a perfect view of the trio. He held a mug presumably containing coffee. He slurped once again, gave a small smile, then said in a slow drawl, "Mooooorning."

"Good morning, senpai," Hamuko said softly. "Senpai, do you see my phone anywhere?" He shook his head, still smiling. "Oh darn, I really want photos of this." His smile widened. "Don't worry, that's taken care of." Hamuko's eyes lit up. "I think we're going to get along just fine, senpai."

A quiet alarm went off, and Yukari made a muffled noise. Her face was still pressed into Minako's chest. She started to roll over, but Minato's grip didn't let her move. She stopped pulling, then pulled away again. Minato's body was slightly pulled in that direction, but not hard enough to wake him. Apparently, it was just enough to make him adjust his grip, slide his arms up so that his right hand rested flat against Yukari's revealed stomach. He nuzzled his face into Yukari's chest, and delivered a very long, contented sigh. Yukari's free hand slowly moved around, feeling the situation. It felt around her torso first, and found Minato's sleeve. It moved down his arm, onto his shoulder, then up to his head. It felt around his head a bit more, then froze. Hamuko felt Yukari stop breathing, and she saw the edge of her face turn a deep shade of scarlet. The sudden cessation of her breathing must have been what caused Minato to yawn loudly, turn his face further left, and attempt to burrow into Yukari's chest. He inhaled, then exhaled a deep breath peacefully.

The room was silent. Hamuko and Akihiko watched patiently, waiting. Hamuko counted the seconds passing by. Yukari's face did not return to its normal shade. It remained just as red, if not redder. Eventually, Yukari's head pulled back and she turned to look at her chest. Hamuko caught her eye and she grinned cheekily, winking. Yukari's face somehow reddened further. _I can't tell if she's going to scream, burst a blood vessel, or pass out. Or some combination of the above._

"Mi-… na-… to…." Yukari ground out in a low voice. Hamuko tried to reduce her smile, so that she wouldn't suffer any anger from Yukari due to Hamuko's obvious amusement at the situation.

A second or two passed, and Minato lifted his face from Yukari's chest. His bangs fell into his half-open eyes, and he looked down. He looked confused, and he put a hand on his former pillow and pushed himself up. Halfway up, he noticed Hamuko's grinning face and immediately had a worried look on his face. _He knows that if I'm amused when he wakes up, he's going to be in trouble. I've never been able to get him in this much trouble, though. This one's all him._

Minato pulled his eyes from Hamuko and turned to Yukari. If Hamuko was asked, she would've described Yukari's expression at that moment as 'livid'. Or perhaps 'fuming', or 'seething'. Minato clearly was awake enough to register that that expression on her face was a sign of his impending doom. His eyes widened, and his head slowly turned to the left, and he focused on his hand cupping and pressing against Yukari's chest. His eyes widened and his mouth opened, but no words came out. He jerked his hand back, holding it in the air like it was contaminated, and he then turned back to Yukari's face, just in time to catch a punch. His head jerked back, and he rolled off the couch onto the floor, holding his face.

"MINATO!" Yukari screamed, and she scrambled off the couch on top of him and started hitting him. He curled up and tried to protect his head. "I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY!" he yelled. She didn't stop trying to hit him.

"Try telling that to her boob," Hamuko snickered.

Yukari's head snapped back to Hamuko and fixed her with a fearsome glare. "YOU COULD'VE STOPPED THIS! YOU WOKE UP FIRST!" "Well, yeah, but that wouldn't have been any fun, you know? Besides, you're the one straddling him now!" Hamuko grinned at her, then yelped and darted from the couch as Yukari lunged for her.

Hamuko, spouting snarky remarks, was chased around the room by Yukari, who was screeching incomprehensibly, while Minato rolled on the ground, shouting about how sorry he was. This is the scene that a groggy Mitsuru saw the morning of April 9th. She stood next to Akihiko who was nursing his mug of coffee and silently watching. The two surveyed their kohai.

"What do you think?" Akihiko quietly asked.

Finally, Yukari tripped Hamuko, who landed hard. Yukari held her down and delivered a firm slap. Despite the slap, Hamuko started cackling uncontrollably on the ground as Minato's apologetic yells continued. Yukari started shouting something about 'goddamn Arisatos', kicked both of the twins in the shin, then stomped up the stairs, ignoring her senpai.

Mitsuru smiled. "I think they'll make an excellent team."


	4. Awakening

After the events of the morning, Yukari and Minato refused to talk to each other, and they also both refused to talk to her.

"But why me?" Hamuko had pouted to Yukari.

"You could've stopped the situation before we woke up and made it much less awkward!" she snapped.

"... Yukari, are you saying you'd have preferred that I wake up Minato first so that you were never even aware of his sleep-fondling you?"

After receiving another slap, Hamuko stopped trying to talk to her.

Later that morning, Hamuko walked up to Minako and opened her mouth, but he spoke before she could.

"This could have been prevented, but you let it happen for your own amusement," Minato said in a grave voice. His expression was emotionless, his eyes dead.

"I didn't do anything! I was just the bed upon which you committed your sin! Besides," she waggled her eyebrows, "you sure looked like you were having a pleasant time. I'm pretty jealous of you!"

Minato pulled a squirt gun in a plastic bag out of his pocket, unbagged it, and cradled it. "I've been saving this for the right moment," he whispered. "The moment when your crimes are too heinous to be ignored any further."

Hamuko made a _pffft_ sound. "I'm not afraid of a little water gun."

Minato looked her in the eyes and smiled.

"It's filled... with bleach."

Hamuko's screams echoed through the halls of the school.

* * *

Hamuko stomped into her room and slammed the door. Junpei had been busy today, so he couldn't hang out, so that left her alone with nothing but her history assignment. She hated history. Minato was good at it, and he always helped her, but she didn't think he'd offer any help tonight.

She groaned and flopped onto her bed, feeling exhausted. At least Minato had been bluffing about the bleach. She would've killed him if he'd ruined her school uniform.

As she drifted off into sleep, she had the feeling that she was forgetting something. But a wave of sloth swept over her, and her worries faded.

* * *

Minato went to the fourth floor a few minutes after midnight, following terse instructions in a text from Yukari. The two of them still hadn't talked about what happened that morning yet. Minato felt terrible about it, but he didn't know how to raise the subject, especially when she was avoiding him. She'd left class immediately that day without looking at him or Hamuko. Then again, he didn't have any room to criticize, since he left immediately after, also ignoring Hamuko.

He entered the double doors at the top of the stairs and raised an eyebrow. They had a pretty nice setup in here. Couches and chairs surrounded a coffee table similar to the lounge downstairs, except the furniture here looked expensive. Bookshelves lined the walls, and there was an extensive set of flatscreen displays against one wall. Mitsuru and Yukari were seated, as was a man with a ponytail in a tan suit. Yukari avoided his eyes, which Mitsuru noticed. That seemed to amuse her. "Come in, have a seat," she invited. "Arisato, meet the chairman of the school and the advisor to SEES, Shuji Ikutsuki." The man smiled, stood up, and shook Minato's hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Minato-kun!" he said enthusiastically. "I've been keeping an eye on you and your sister; you seem to be adjusting to Gekkoukan well. If there's anything I can do to help, you have only to ask."

Minato shook his hand and nodded. "I've been okay so far, thank you." No adult with good intentions had ever been so friendly towards him. Minato immediately decided that he didn't trust him. "The only questions I have right now are about the, ah, Dark Hour. I'm looking forward to receiving some answers after all this time."

"Yes, of course; that's the purpose of this meeting," Mitsuru said. "But let's hold off on any discussion until your sister arrives. I'd like to avoid having to answer the same questions twice."

Minato took a seat and waited. The chairman attempted to engage him in pleasantries, but Minato wasn't a very willing conversationalist with people who he wasn't comfortable with. The chairman carried the bulk of the conversation by himself. _He's one of those people… hmph, Hamuko will like him at least._

A few minutes passed, and Mitsuru grew visibly impatient. She opened her mouth, probably about to ask Yukari if Hamuko had gotten the message that there was a meeting, when an alert sounded and the monitors flashed. Mitsuru whirled out of her chair and pressed a button.

"Akihiko?" Mitsuru spoke quickly.

"Mitsuru!" his voice sounded statick-y. _Wait, how's that even operating during the Dark Hour?_ Akihiko sounded like he was running, and his breathing was halting and interspersed with grunts. "You won't believe the size of this one- it's huge! My arm's no good, I had to run. I can't talk long- it's chasing me. I'm almost back to the dorm!"

"He's bringing that thing here?!" Yukari said fearfully.

"Chairman! We must postpone this meeting and prepare for battle!" Mitsuru spoke authoritatively. "R- right!" Ikutsuki agreed. She turned to Yukari. "Takeba, take Arisato and find the other Arisato!" She strode over to a wardrobe and opened it. Inside were rows of gleaming weapons. _What the fuck is going on?_

Minato wanted to ask questions, but clearly the situation was dangerous, so he remained silent. Mitsuru turned and handed him… a sword. Minato looked at it dumbly. He was pretty decent at kendo, but he'd never touched a real sword. He examined the weapon. It was short, and lighter than he'd expected.

"Hey!" Yukari's voice caught his attention, and he looked up. She was holding a bow, and- was that a _gun_ strapped to her thigh? And she had a red armband strapped to her bicep. "Come on, follow me!" She ran out the door, and Minato followed. She was on her way down the stairs already, not waiting for him. He took the steps as fast as he dared while holding a goddamn _sword_ for the first time in his life. No need to trip and slice himself open.

Yukari was banging on his sister's door. "Hamuko? Are you in there? I'm coming in!" she ran inside, and Minato followed. Sitting on the bed was his sister, rubbing her eyes. Minato was incredulous. "We had a meeting scheduled for tonight in which we were going to finally learn what the hell the Dark Hour is, and you were about to _sleep through it?_"

Hamuko's mouth opened. "I… forgot." Then her eyes focused on them. "What are you holding? Is that a sword? _Is that a gun?!_"

"There's no time to explain. Come on, we've got to get downstairs," Yukari urged. She pulled a long knife out of somewhere and Minato tried not to flinch at its sudden appearance, and she handed it to Hamuko, who hid her reaction to it much worse than him. Yukari was too frantic to notice the look on her face, though. "Here, just in case. Now come on!" She pulled Hamuko off the bed to the door. Hamuko stumbled but followed. At least she'd fallen asleep in her uniform.

Downstairs, Mitsuru and Akihiko were just outside the open front doors. They were facing something in the blackness outside. Mitsuru must've heard their footsteps because she shouted over her shoulder, "Take the back door!" Yukari nodded and dashed through the kitchen, then stopped in front of the back door. Somebody was banging on it. She took a few steps back silently, then turned to us. "Never mind- to the roof! We should be safe there!"

"Safe from what?" Hamuko said.

"I'll explain later!" Yukari shouted. "Come on, move faster!"

The three ran up the three flights of stairs and onto the roof. Gasping for air, Yukari shut the door. "We… should be safe up here…"

Hamuko recovered first. "Safe from what? What are we running from?" She looked scared and confused.

Yukari took a few deep breaths to collect herself, then she looked at the far end of the roof in horror. Minato and Hamuko followed her gaze and gasped.

Over the edge of the roof reached a hand. Then another. And then another.

It was a collection of too many arms to count. Some arms ended in empty hands. Several arms held silver blades glinting in the green moonlight. One arm held one of those old-fashioned theater masks with eyeholes and a mouth hole. The mask's expression was blank, emotionless. As the arms pulled themselves up over the ledge, Minato looked in vain for a proper body connected the arms, but he couldn't see any sort of structure. It was just a mass of pitch-black arms and hands, undulating and reaching past each other, grasping and slashing at the air. Minato felt cold deep inside, and his lungs felt like they ceased to function. The creature started moving towards them, tilting one way and then the other, throwing itself off balance and not seeming to have a clear top or bottom to itself as its arms spun wildly, filling Minato with nausea and making his legs feel weak.

"What the shit?" Hamuko breathed.

Yukari stepped in front of them. "That's what we call a Shadow," she said, her voice slightly quivering. They're monsters that appear during the Dark Hour and attack people." She pulled out her gun, gripped it with both hands, and pointed it… _at her head_, and she started whispering to herself.

Minato dashed forward and yanked her arm down, pointing the gun away. "Yukari, what the fuck?" he yelled. Her brows furrowed. "It's not a real gun, it won't hurt me!" She yanked it out of his grasp. "Look, there's no barrel!" Minato looked, and indeed there was no barrel. The tip of the gun was a flat surface. "There's no time for this, get behind me!" She shoved Minato back and pressed the gun to her head again, closing her eyes. Minato heard her muttering again to herself. "I can do this, I can do th-"

She was interrupted by a wave of fire that surprised all three of them, and they lost their balance in the inferno and fell. _What the fuck..._ Minato groaned and shakily stood, looking at his companions. Hamuko was slightly burnt, but Yukari had gotten the worst of the attack. She had bad burns on her legs, and a gash on the side of her head. She lay unconscious on the ground. Minato looked up. The monster was crawling closer, and two of its arms weaved intricate patterns in the air, and as he watched, flame somehow materialized in its palms, and then the flame was _thrown_ at them-

Minato grabbed Hamuko and Yukari by their forearms and bodily hurled them as best he could perpendicular to the path the fire was taking, out of harm's way. His back and his side exploded in pain. The fire seemed to splash across the ground and Hamuko _screamed_, pressed her burnt shoulder into the ground to stop her uniform burning further, and Minato saw her young face again, bloody and burnt, screaming, while the car around them burnt with bright blinding flames that hurt his eyes and he couldn't breathe and he felt glass inside of him and he smelt gasoline and he saw his parents in the front seat with their skulls open and leaking and Minato realized that he too was screaming in agony and Minato looked over at Yukari and saw her six-year-old self in Hamuko's place-

_We are going to die._

The thought struck Minato, and brought up a plethora of memories he'd tried desperately to forget. He hadn't been close to death in a long time. The accident on the bridge hadn't been the first, but it was the most memorable, the one he'd had nightmares about and uncomfortable flashbacks to the most often.

Minato looked down at Hamuko's pained face with blood dripping down her forehead, and knew that he would do anything to keep her alive. He looked at Yukari, and realized he'd gladly lay down his life for his dear childhood friend as well. A calm settled over him.

_Run? I can only carry one of them. Not an option._

_Fight? I don't even know if this thing can be killed._

_Distract?... maybe._

Minato grabbed his sword from where he'd dropped it and he turned to the monster. It was close now, only a few seconds from them. He absentmindedly noticed that it was a good deal taller than him and the size of a minivan. Its arms squelched where they touched the ground, and it lumbered to and fro. Blades continued to flail around it, swishing through the air, and two of its arms started to move in delicate, precise patterns above its head.

Minato sprinted towards it.

"MINATO WHAT THE FUCK," Hamuko screamed behind him.

He ran left around the thing, swinging wildly and just parrying two of the monster's strikes. He got to the opposite side of it from the girls, and the mask turned towards him, then back to the girls. Minato snarled and lunged forward, severing a hand. A blade clattered to the ground. The creature made no sound, but the mask snapped back to face Minato and several arms converged on him at once. He turned tail and ran, with his head over his shoulder to ensure that it followed him. It did.

Satisfied that he was luring it away from the girls, Minato looked back in front of him, then came to a sudden stop, leaning forward dangerously. He was at the very edge of the roof, and he tried not to look down. He turned around and threw himself to the side to avoid a slash through where he just was, desperately hoping that he didn't jump off the roof. He landed just on the edge, recovered his footing, and parried two blades before moving again. Mobility seemed to be his best advantage against this thing. It had several arms it could attack with at once, but it was slow and moved awkwardly. Minato started kiting it around the rooftop, swinging when he could. As he ran back once more, giant shards of ice came from behind him and cut the creature, slicing a few arms off. Immediately after, with a blinding flash and the scent of ozone lightning came from behind him and struck it, briefly stunning the monster. Minato blinked in confusion and risked a glance behind him. Akihiko and Mitsuru were running towards him.

"Arisato, get back!" Mitsuru ordered.

Minato nearly argued, then noticed that behind them were large floating figures. Behind Akihiko was a massive, vaguely humanoid figure with long flowing hair and what appeared to be a giant syringe in place of an arm. Behind Mitsuru was a feminine figure in armor, wielding a sword and a dagger. _That sort of ridiculous armor has been thoroughly debunked by modern historians and blacksmiths. It would never have been worn by a female warrior. 'Boob armor' like that is likely to fracture one's sternum,_ was the first thought that came to his mind. He jerked back to reality and turned towards the- the Shadow, Yukari had called it- and he jumped back, narrowly avoiding another slash. _I need to stop getting distracted by trivial matters before I lose a limb. _

Mitsuru and Akihiko ran around Minato to either side of the Shadow. The figure behind Mitsuru swung its sword and somehow launched ice at the monster, and Akihiko's companion shot electricity at it through its arm-syringe. The Shadow still emitted no sound, but it shuddered with each blow and attempted to ward off its attackers. Minato stepped back and looked towards his sister and Yukari, and saw Hamuko at the doorway, holding one of the swords the Shadow had dropped, fighting smaller blobs of darkness in the doorway to the roof. Minato's eyes widened and he ran to her aid. As he stepped, his leg nearly collapsed under him, but his eyes didn't leave his sister and he forced himself to continue to her side.

The two of them hacked at the monsters. When the monsters took enough of a beating, they seemed to collapse into puddles of black gunk. Black goo soon littered the ground and stained their ragged uniforms. These were not nearly as dangerous as the big one. Several carried small blades, but Minato and Hamuko's weapons easily outreached theirs, so the things couldn't even get close to them. Brother and sister fought side-by-side, using the choke point to the roof to destroy the monsters one at a time. Eventually the tide of creatures faded, and Minato sagged with exhaustion. Black spots appeared in his vision, and he blinked, struggling to stay upright. "Are you okay?" he asked Hamuko, turning to her. She was hunched over, her hair falling into her eyes. Blood streaked down her cheek and exposed shoulder where the fire had burnt through her sleeve. She had a few smaller cuts from before he had arrived, but she gave a silent nod, catching her breath. Her eyes widened when she looked at him. "Minato, your back!"

Minato looked down and winced at the sight of his burnt side. He tried to twist around to see his back, but winced and stopped as pain jolted through him. His shirt and jacket were dangling off of him, and he noticed a few cuts on his torso and arms as well. _Must've not noticed while fighting the... Shadow._ "We need to get you medical attention," she said. The two turned to watch their senpai fight with the Shadow. Mitsuru danced between swipes of the monster, expertly flourishing a rapier. Akihiko stood back, one arm dangling at his side, and with his other arm directed his... thing... to launch electricity at the Shadow. The Shadow had noticeably fewer arms than before. It started retracted in on itself, becoming smaller and more compact. Four of the creature's arms reached above it, and began swirling around each other. Thin lights streamed through the air from the tips of those fingers, and Minato yelled. "Watch out! It's going to attack!" But Mitsuru and Akihiko had already dashed in to take advantage of the fact that there were fewer arms visibly threatening them, and as Mitsuru lunged with her rapier, nearly stabbing the theater mask of the creature, there was a flash of light and an earsplitting boom that forced Minato to shield his eyes. He looked back as soon as the brightness faded.

Mitsuru and Akihiko were laying on the ground a dozen feet back from where they were. Their clothes were torn, and they had gashes all over them. The seniors lay on the ground, groaning, and trying to move, but the Shadow paid them no heed. Its mask turned directly to look at Minato and Hamuko, and started stumbling towards them again.

Minato took a step forward, raising his sword, and stepped on something. It was one of those guns, probably Yukari's. He picked it up and looked at it. There was definitely no barrel. So, what was the point? Did it shoot some sort of laser? Minato glanced at Hamuko, and watched her run forward and pick up another one of the guns. Akihiko was closer, so Minato figured that it must be his. Minato limped forward and stood by his sister's side. "Get behind me," he said. She scowled. "Says the charred idiot. Get rid of your damn hero complex, I can protect myself. And I'm definitely not leaving you here alone." She tightly gripped the Shadow's sword in one hand and the gun in the other. Then she pointed the gun and pulled the trigger, and... nothing happened. She tried again.

"What are these things even for?" she cried in anger. She moved to throw it away, then stopped. In front of them, suddenly, stood the boy from before. The one with the contract, still wearing his striped pajamas. He stood between them and the monster, which was still slowly approaching.

The boy made a finger gun with his hand, and pointed it at his head. He smiled. "Can you... do it?" His hand jerked, like he'd fired the gun, and he disappeared. _Could it be..._

Minato looked at the gun, then at Hamuko. She looked back at him, fear in her eyes. The monster moved closer, making audible squishing sounds with every step. The two heard a scream behind them. Yukari had woken up, and she was standing on her terribly burnt legs just behind the twins, swaying back and forth. She looked at her senpai, then at the door, where the smaller monsters were coming through again. She had an arrow nocked, and she grit her teeth and tried to shoot it, but it went far off-course, and she stumbled. _Concussion. She can't fire a bow when she has no balance and can't see._ The monsters slid towards the three of them, surrounding them on that side.

Minato looked at Hamuko, and a cold feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. Something was urging him on, urging him to save himself, save them, fight the monsters, and without realizing it he had raised the gun, and pointed it at his head. Hamuko did the same. Voices screamed in his head, swarming his mind and overwhelming his senses. He couldn't breathe, couldn't hear, couldn't smell, could barely see. The twins turned back to the monster, nearly upon them, and pulled the triggers.

A loud bang rent the air, and _something _pierced his head, and Minato gasped.

* * *

Yukari struggled to focus her eyes, and forced herself back upright. The smaller Shadows from inside the building were approaching them, and she was supposed to be _protecting her friends!_ She risked a glance behind her, and gasped. Minato and Hamuko faced the great Shadow, Evokers pointed at their heads. As one, they pulled the triggers, and a veritable shockwave of energy knocked the Shadows back. Yukari held her ground, arms protecting her face from strong winds that swirled around them. She lowered her arms when the gusts faded, and she gasped. Streaks of pale blue light flowed through the air around the twins, illuminating them, and the huge Shadow, nearly upon them, had been forced back, and appeared unable to advance. In front of Yukari, most of the Shadows pouring onto the rooftop were dissolving into puddles as the streaks of light soared around them. Yukari looked back at the twins and her eyes widened. "They're summoning!" she whispered. Rising before them were two figures. _They both have Personas!_

The figures resembled each other. Before Minato floated a humanoid creature carrying a massive lyre. It had white hair and a blood-red scarf, with platinum skin. Its legs resembled massive boots, and its narrow eyes glowed red. A similar figure rose before Hamuko, except hers had longer brown hair, a golden-colored torso, and its lyre was heart-shaped. Yukari felt comforted by the presence of the newly arrived beings, but beneath that feeling she felt a current of danger, something stretched thin and ready to snap and lash out.

Deep, booming, electronic voices rang out.

**"Thou art I... and I am thou..." **the voices chanted. Each Persona seemed to be speaking to their respective summoner. **"From the sea of thy soul, I cometh... I am Orpheus, Master of Strings."**

The light still swirled around the twins, and now Yukari noticed what appeared to be shards of glass floating amidst the streaks of light. The twins looked behind their shoulders at Yukari, and she gasped in fear. They were grinning madly, Minato's eyes glowing bright blue, and Hamuko's glowing a deep red. The sight terrified her. "Yukari," Minako said, "back us up." Then the twins charged the enormous Shadow, and the lights dissipated. Yukari gaped, then followed. The two attacked the Shadow, their Personas hurling fire and them swinging madly with their weapons, parrying and swiftly dismembering the Shadow. Yukari ran to where Mitsuru was struggling to climb to her feet, gasping and look very disoriented. "Sorry senpai, you're in no state to fight," Yukari said as she snatched her Evoker from the ground. With barely a moment's hesitation, she pointed the gun at her forehead and pulled the trigger.

"Io!"

Yukari's Persona appeared, a giant, vaguely mechanical bull head, on which lounged a metallic figure of a young woman whose flowing brown hair streamed in all directions. A cool feeling came over Yukari's head as green light flowed down her, and she exhaled. She could finally focus. Yukari suspected that Io's healing powers wouldn't fully heal a concussion, but clearly they could stave off the symptoms long enough to fight. She looked at Minato, blood streaming down his back and arms and staining his clothes. She focused. "Dia!" she cried, and the healing light flowed through him, closing up some of his smaller wounds and staunching some of the bleeding. Yukari gave the same to Hamuko. Neither twin seemed to notice. _They must be too full of adrenaline and high off of their awakening to feel any pain right now._

The Shadow had only a handful of arms now, and the mask it held looked around frantically, unable to withstand their fierce assault. It raised three of its arms over itself and started hastily swirling them around. "No you don't! ORPHEUS!" Minato screamed. His Persona hurled fire at the three arms, burning one of them off, then Orpheus came forward and swung its massive lyre at the remaining two arms, which burst into smoke and slime. Three of the remaining arms reached up and quickly grabbed his Orpheus, pulling it down, and a fourth arm stabbed it in the chest, then jerked the blade out and stabbed twice more. Minato screamed, clutching at his chest and falling to one knee. Orpheus writhed, trying to break free. One of the Shadow's free arms reached for Minato, and Yukari loosed an arrow, piercing it in the palm, and it dissolved. _Holy shit, I can't believe I made that shot_, Yukari thought. Another hand, this time holding a sword, lunged for the kneeling Minato, and Yukari frantically nocked an arrow and pulled the string back, knowing she wouldn't make it in time, but thankfully Hamuko leapt in and deflected the sword, knocking it to the side.

Minato had a certain elegance to his swordsmanship, _probably from Kendo_, but Hamuko just swung hers with brute force. Thus, after ungainly attack she was off balance and unable to block the next sword that lunged for her. Minato recovered just in time to throw himself into Hamuko, knocking her out of the way, and as Yukari watched, unable to do anything, the sword slid cleanly through the right side of Minato's chest, sending red matter squirting out the other side. "MINATO!" Yukari screamed, and Hamuko dashed again and cut the arm holding the blade, shrilly shouting over her shoulder while she continued fighting, "Leave the b-blade, in it'll staunch the bleeding, and lay down on your side and don't move you- you-!" Her voice broke off as she desperately held her ground, Minato behind her. His face was dull as he looked down at the blade sticking through him, and he stumbled, landing hard on his side. Yukari felt Io whisper urgently to her, and Yukari shouted, "Garu!" and her Persona summoned the wild, thrashing element of wind, compressing and hurling it at the Shadow in a sharp gust. Her wind spell cut through two of the remaining arms, and Hamuko shot forward in a blur, slashing and grabbing and removing every other arm remaining in her fury until the plain blue theatre mask clattered to the ground. She stomped on it, but it didn't break, so she picked it up and hurled it down, tears falling down her face, barely controlling herself.

The mask slid across the roof, and the mask's eyeholes and mouth started glowing with a deep red light.

Hamuko and Yukari stared. Yukari's heartbeat pounded and was all she could hear. Her legs were starting to lose their numbness, and she began to feel her burns ache. A drop of warm blood slid down her cheek. Fatigue was beginning to set in. The mask's eyes glowed brighter and brighter, then suddenly there was a great cracking sound and a jagged crack appeared down the mask, but it did not fully split, remaining whole. From underneath the mask appeared a mass of arms which rapidly grew to the full length they were before, carrying the mask off the ground, and now the Shadow was whole again with a dark red mask, holding more swords than before, and it started moving towards them.

Yukari felt despair, but she looked at Minato, who lay on his side with a pale face and his eyes half-shut, then at Hamuko, who also looked at Minato and then her, and the two girls communicated in that desperate glance that they would do anything to fight for his life. Yukari willed her Persona to send more sharp winds at the creature, and she started shooting arrows. Hamuko shouted, "Orpheus!" and her Persona swiftly flew towards the Shadow, launching fire at it.

But this time, the Shadow was faster and sturdier. Yukari's winds failed to cut any of its limbs, and arms shot out and grabbed Orpheus out of the air as it swung with its massive lyre. Orpheus was pulled down and this time stabbed in the head first, before another sword went through its heart. Hamuko gasped and fell to her knees, gripping her head and bending over. The sword in Orpheus' head was pulled out, and it stabbed again, and Hamuko writhed, fingers digging into her scalp as she gasped and spat blood out. Yukari desperately called for Io to send more wind, but she was exhausted and the wind was no more effective now than it was a moment ago. She launched arrow after arrow as Hamuko started screaming, cursing herself and her uselessness every time she missed, and every time she hit wishing that she could do more.

Orpheus was stabbed again and again, and the Shadow's hands reached up into the hole made in Orpheus' head and the fingers dug inside and started pulling Orpheus' skull apart. Yukari felt nauseous at the sight, _can Personas die?!_, then white hands _reached out from inside Orpheus and fully split it in two_, and a shiver ran through her, and Yukari was struck with a certainty that she was about to die.

She smelled... death. She had once found a long-dead cat in an alley, the smell permeating through the air, impossible to ignore. This was the same scent. She was reminded of the small funeral held for her father, of the questions her six-year-old self asked her then-beloved mother. _Where is daddy? What happened? Why is he gone? When is he coming_ _back?_

Orpheus' broken corpse fell to the ground, and there arose a slimy black figure, dripping bits of something, and the figure floated high into the air until it was silhouetted against the moon, then it unfurled itself, revealing a humanoid figure with wings made of a string of coffins connected by chains draped across its chest, and an enormous white jaw with a jagged mouth. The figure wore some sort of cloak and carried a long curved sword, and in an instant it dived down to the Shadow, faster than Yukari's eyes could track.

Its blade cut cleanly through the shadow, and with one hand, it grabbed several arms at once and swung the Shadow against the ground, and pounded into it, cutting and slashing and ripping it apart. Arms were flung across the rooftop, the fragments squirming and reaching out before dissolving into black goo. Finally, all that was left was the mask, and the fearsome creature held it in one palm, and crushed it into chunks. It turned towards Hamuko and wrapped its wings around itself, inhaling raspily, then unfurled them to their greatest length and **_roared _**to the heavens, shaking the building and knocking Yukari down. She shielded her face, tears streaming unbidden. It then spoke softly, and though she could not hear the words, the dreadful voice made Yukari shiver and filled her with panic . Hamuko had staggered to her feet by now, shakily facing the monster. Yukari later asked Hamuko what the thing had said. Hamuko looked uncomfortable, and whispered the words aloud.

**"Thou art I, and I am thou. From the sea of thy soul, I cometh. I am Thanatos, god of death."**

The monster looked up, and with a nausea-inducing warp of the air, like the transition to the Dark Hour, a recuperated Orpheus floated in its place. Then Orpheus disappeared, and Hamuko turned towards her brother, stumbling over and collapsing next to him. Yukari nearly collapsed herself at the relief she felt that the... _thing_ was gone, but she forced herself up and forward to check on her friends. After seeing that Hamuko didn't have anything worse than some bad cuts, she turned to Minato. His face was white, and he lay in a deep puddle of blood on his side, the sword sticking out of his front and back. His eyes were closed, and his breathing raspy.

"Oh god, oh god," Yukari muttered. She knew Hamuko was right about leaving the blade in under normal circumstances as a way to staunch the bleeding. She wasn't sure that applied when magical healing abilities were a possibility, however. And... for the second time that night, Yukari felt Io speaking to her, commanding with an urgency she could not ignore, and she knew that if she did not act, Minato would die. Yukari steeled herself, gripping the Shadow's blade, and pulled it out of Minato, doing her best not to create any new cuts. His eyes opened and he gave a ragged gasp, a terrible sound that made Yukari nearly start crying, but she forced herself to focus and held her Evoker to her head. "Io!" she plead, willing her Persona to come and heal. _Please, please, I'm exhausted but I will do anything to keep him alive, take me instead, it's my fault, I was supposed to protect them and I failed them, now my best friend is dying in front of me and I need him, I need him alive just KEEP HIM ALIVE-_

Minato continued gasping, but green light slowly flowed over his burnt skin, and his wound started to close. Yukari felt an urge, and acted upon it, placing her hands directly where he had been stabbed. His face contorted in pain and he cried out, and Yukari hated herself more than ever for making him hurt, but after a minute his breathing slowed, and began to sound normal. His eyes opened a crack, and he looked at Yukari. "Yu... kari," he moaned, and then tears rolled down her face as she seized him in her arms and held him tight. "You s... saved me," he whispered. Yukari shook her head. "No i- it's my fault, I was supposed to pro- to protect you, and I was useless from the very beginning, and I- I-" she started blubbering, and forced her mouth shut, digging her face into his shoulder and weeping with gratitude that he was still alive, and with gratitude that she wasn't responsible for the death of her childhood best friend and crush.

"Is H... Hamuko okay?" he breathed. Yukari forced herself to let go of him, and she sat up and nodded, wiping her wet face. "She's fine," her voice cracked. Minato closed his eyes, and tension visibly left his body. "Good. I'm... I'm glad... you're both safe..." His voice trailed off, and he drifted into unconsciousness. Yukari heard footsteps and she looked towards her senpai, who were now standing. Mitsuru and Akihiko limped unsteadily towards them, leaning on each other.

"Are you alright?" Akihiko asked, holding his side and wincing. Yukari nodded, then realized how exhausted she was. "Just... just very... tir- tried- tired," and her gaze swept back to Hamuko and Minato as her vision blurred and began to fade. The last thing she thought was that she probably shouldn't have collapsed on top of them, but it was fair revenge for that morning.


End file.
